Global Sports: What are the Best Tennis Drills?

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

What are the Best Tennis Drills?

By William Shelley


Tennis drills are being used by tennis players of most levels. Tennis drills are needed for many reasons. The best tennis practice drills provide repetition, match experience, and fun. They may also be employed to improve footwork and endurance. Every day tennis coaches worldwide look to think up new tennis drills for beginners as well as advanced players. There are two main different kinds of tennis training drills which are used today.

The image that comes to mind when one thinks of tennis drills is an instructor constantly feeding balls to a line of people. This type of tennis drill is called "dead-ball drill". Although it's still used today, it is probably not the most effective way to prepare students for matches. Players only hit one or just a few balls on occasion, and they don't participate in a point. Individuals that practice "dead-ball drills" constantly perform really poorly in matches. It's mostly because the instructor feeds the balls perfectly to the students. Consistent feeds prevent players from adapting to different varieties of balls. "Dead-ball drills" however are the most effective forms of footwork drills. They can keep a large number of players moving when they are designed well. Cardio tennis drills are perfect examples of the fitness benefit of well designed tennis drills. "Dead-ball drills" also are excellent beginner drills simply because the fastest way to master proper tennis technique initially is through repetition.

The most efficient but also most desirable forms of drills are live drills. Usually the instructor or even a player puts the ball in play and the point is played out. Live tennis drills also have a purpose or goal that the players try to achieve. Often the goal is to simply win the drill. In other cases participants cooperate to reach a common goal such as keeping the ball in play for a certain amount of shots. Tennis drill experts debate even today whether competitive or cooperative tennis drills are more effective. The actual answer is probably a good mixture of both types of tennis drills.

Well designed tennis drills also provide a very important ingredient that is fun. Every tennis coach should make an effort to make drills game-like and engaging. Boring and mundane tennis drills can drive any player to certain burn-out. It is very important for instructors to maintain the attention and interest of students with fresh tennis drills and games. It's always challenging for tennis instructors to think of new tennis drills again and again. Tennis coaches are generally reluctant to share their drills and keep them in secret. This is very counterproductive. All tennis pros would benefit from sharing their knowledge instead of guarding it.

One great tennis drill is called "Rush and Crush". Players split into teams of 2. A random team starts on side A at the baseline (the coach may ask a trivia question to decide first team). The rest of the teams get in line behind one another at the baseline on side B. The coach feeds a short ball to the first baseline team, who approaches the net. If they win the rally, they're fed a volley. When they win this second point also, they're fed an overhead smash. When they win all 3 points, they get to be the new defenders on side A. When the current baseline team loses the point, they proceed to the end of the line. Teams only earn points on side A. Teams retain their points even when they lose their position at the net. First team to 15 points is the champion. This is a great doubles tennis drill.




About the Author:



No comments:

Post a Comment